


We Will

by theirprofoundbond



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 15x02, Canon Divergence, Coda, Love Confession, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 01:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21153068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theirprofoundbond/pseuds/theirprofoundbond
Summary: Castiel reassures Dean... and surprises him with a confession.





	We Will

“Dean.”

Just past the threshold, Dean slows.

His heart is beating hard and he can hear his pulse pounding in his ears, but over the years he’s learned a little something about anger. About how hanging up the phone, or shutting the door in the face of someone you love, or walking away from them without stopping… those things can be more destructive than the feelings that are making your blood race through your veins in the first place.

Or maybe, right now, it isn’t any of those things that make him stop walking, maybe it’s just the way Castiel says his name.

He hangs his head and closes his eyes, listens as Castiel says haltingly, “You asked… what about all of this is real.”

He can hear Castiel turn around, so Dean turns, too. He can’t help the tiny flare of hope that rises in his chest, even if he also can’t help that his face remains stony.

Castiel looks him in the eye. “We are,” he says firmly. But then Castiel takes a deep breath, glancing away, and in a voice that wavers slightly he adds, “So is the way I feel about you.”

Dean blinks, and now his heart is beating hard for an entirely different reason. He can feel his face slip from “stony” to “stricken.” Before he can think of what to say, a single word is passing his lips, a choked sound, so different to the way he spoke this same word just minutes ago: “Don’t.”

Castiel’s lips part as something like fear, or regret, or horror, or all of those things at once seep into his eyes as he and Dean stare at each other.

Dean sees this crash of emotions and he takes a step into the room, chasing after that reckless _Don’t._

“Dean—”

“I mean, you can’t,” Dean stammers. “You can’t say that to me.” He’s flailing, mentally. This is not how this was supposed to go. “Not right now. Not when we’re in the middle of all this and everything is hanging in the balance.” Dean sucks in a shaky breath and when he speaks again his voice is barely above a whisper. “You can't say that to me right now, like things aren’t gonna go our way. Like we won’t have a chance to say it later. Please.”

Castiel blinks, and Dean can see him absorbing the “we.” He draws a breath and nods. “We will.” His voice is soft now, but no less firm than before.

_We are. We will._

Dean holds Castiel’s words close to him as he turns and leaves the room, trying to breathe, to slow his thoughts, to calm his racing heart.

_The way I feel about you._

* * *

Later, when middle-of-the-night quiet has stolen over everything, Dean returns from a patrol. His feet take him back to the room where he and Castiel exchanged heated words, and then traded them for startled speechlessness.

Castiel is waiting for him, leaning back against the table beneath the map tacked to the wall.

For a moment, Dean remembers another middle-of-the-night, another apocalypse. He remembers Castiel waiting for him in Bobby’s kitchen.

Dean crosses the room and leans heavily against the table, shoulder to shoulder with Castiel, his eyes fixed on the floor.

Neither of them say anything for a long time.

“For the record,” Dean says finally, his voice rough, “this isn’t uh… the ‘later’ I had in mind. You know. I was thinking…” He gestures vaguely to somewhere off in the distance. “Down the road, after…” He trails off. He wants to speak the idea of victory into existence, but he can’t.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Castiel nod. Dean turns his head to him slightly, closing his eyes, and whispers, “Will you say it again anyway.”

There is a breathless moment between them, and then Dean feels Castiel’s warm hand enveloping his, Castiel’s lips at his ear. “We are real,” Castiel murmurs. “And my love for you is real.” Castiel presses a kiss to Dean’s temple and Dean exhales roughly, eyes shut tightly, gripping Castiel’s hand.

Castiel squeezes back. “And we’ll get our later. We will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading ❤️️ If you ever want to say hi, [you can find me on Tumblr](https://theirprofoundbond.tumblr.com). And [here's a Tumblr post of this fic](https://theirprofoundbond.tumblr.com/post/188550481701/we-will) that you can like or reblog, if you like 😊


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